unexpected result from sh script with `date`

[gs_stoller at juno.com]

On  Fri, 2 Feb 2007 22:11:56 +1100,  Tigger <tigger at lvlworld.com>  wrote
> Hello, the following simply sh script is outputting unexpected results.
> Any idea why?
> --script--
> #!/bin/sh
> started=`date`
> echo "Started at: $started"
> echo "Finished  : "`date`
> exit
> --output--
> Started at: Fri Feb  2 22:13:51 EST 2007
> Finished  : Fri Feb 2 22:13:51 EST 2007
> --problem--
> Between 'Feb' and '2', there is two spaces on the 'Started at' line,
> however the 'Finished' one only has 1 space.
> I know this sounds picky, but I was not expecting this at all.
 It is not a problem with  date , it did the same thing both times.  The  echo  command coalesces consecutive blank space characters down to one blank unless they are quoted.  If you change the line
         echo "Finished  : "`date`
to be
          echo "Finished  : `date`"
it will do what you expect.
[snip]